It’s not hard to grasp how easily stuff can pile up and become a problem.

We’ve probably all seen those shows about hoarders. People who only have paths through their homes because their stuff is piled up in every room.

It certainly hasn’t come to that in our home, but I’m seeing how stuff can begin to take over. I’d like to say it’s just at home, but honestly stuff is spilling over at my office as well. 

Some people are naturally neat. They just put things away after they use them. They have a place for everything and it always goes back there. It’s possible that these people have attained to a higher state of being than the rest of us, but it’s more likely that they have other issues that compel them to do what they do. 

For me it happens slowly, one thing at a time. The clutter begins when one thing doesn’t have a place or I don’t have time to put something away. 

I’m not making excuses here, just observations. 

Once one thing doesn’t get back to where it belongs, it kind of opens the door for more things to hang out where they don’t belong. 

In my office, it starts when I don’t know where to put a piece of paper. I realize I’ll need it later so I leave it out as a visible reminder. 

Sometimes I don’t have a file for it or know what I would file it under. The end result is it stays on my desk … and the pile or piles begin. 

On my computer, I’m sometimes in a hurry and don’t put documents I’m working on in a folder … which means they sit on my desktop. Before too long my desktop is filled with un-filed documents, pictures, pdfs and more.

Because one piece of paper or one document doesn’t look messy, you don’t see the disaster that is coming. 

Right now I’m looking at my family room and there is an amplifier for my son’s guitar sitting in a corner. … My son hasn’t lived here for six years, plus he now has an apartment-sized amp for his guitar. 

I originally thought that I might plug my acoustic guitar into it, but that has only happened a few times in those six years. So there it sits and, on top of it, a mic and a few cords. 

That’s just one thing. 

As I scan the room, there are several things – my stuff – that need to be put away, disposed of in some way, or I need to find a place to store them. 

And then there is my roll top desk. That is where I secretly hoard old computer stuff. In this secret place I have hidden away hard drives, cords, cables, disks, CD’s and many things that can’t even plug into a computer anymore. 

If my roll top desk is ever opened up, I am concerned that it would take over the whole basement and I would be left walking on paths to get around my stuff.

Here’s the thing: Not only can we keep physical things hanging around so that they pile up in our homes, we can also keep hurts, sin, unforgiveness and anger piled up in our lives. Just like you have to take action to clear the clutter from your computer, you must take action with the stuff that builds up in your life. The best way to deal with all that is to take it to God and allow Him to help you get your life uncluttered. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you most need to un-clutter right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

Subscribe to my blog and receive posts like this to your email twice weekly.